


A Single Book of Matches

by Defilia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: And some minor characters - Freeform, Gen, Werewolf Nordics, vampire UK siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-11 16:09:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defilia/pseuds/Defilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The brutal murder on a family of five in a village that is cut off from the outside world grabs the attention of two hunters. Little do they know that their presence forces a vampire family and a werewolf pack to work together to ensure their survival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea had been floating around in my head for a while and i decided that it was worth a try. A lot of chapters are already written out but the art is to string them all together of course. I hope i can keep on updating this story on a regular basis but one small step at a time, i guess.  
> I hope you all enjoy my own headcanons on Vampires and Werewolves since i like mixing a lot of different mythologies together into one coherent idea.
> 
> Oh and here is a small list of names to make sure i'm not confusion people here:  
> Preben: Denmark  
> Erik: Norway  
> Haldur: Iceland  
> Berwald: Sweden  
> Tino: Finland
> 
> Arthur: England  
> Allistair: Scotland  
> Owen: Wales  
> Charlotte/Charlie: Northern Ireland
> 
> Constantijn: Netherlands  
> Mathilde: Belgium
> 
>  
> 
> That's about it, i hope you all enjoy this as much as i do writing it.

He’s a heaving mess on the floor, not enough strength in his arms to push himself up. Instead his body is curled up, arms tightly hugging his legs against his chest. He has no idea where he is, doesn’t even fully remember how he got here in the first place. The only thing he knows is that the smell of blood all around him. So tempting but he doesn’t, can’t allow himself. They are still alive; he can smell it. Five people are too much for him alone to murder and yet, maybe he could. He immediately discards the idea. The creature isn’t allowed to win when he still has a grasp on his thoughts, at least not yet.

“Have fun, honey.”  
He knows that voice. His head wants to snap up, look her dead in the eye when rejecting her ridiculous offer but he can’t bring himself to it. Instead he simply shakes his head, trying to keep his sanity in check. Not letting the creature win from human reason. But it’s hard when he’s nothing more than a trembling and crying bundle on the floor as he feels his skin is starting to crawl. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was his turn to ruin the shed while the others roamed the woods because they couldn’t allow themselves to run into each other and tear one another to pieces. But instead she had dragged him back into the village and dumped him here and all he could do was undergo it until his mind would go blank for the night. His laboured breaths come out as hisses as teeth that already look like canines clench together.

“Oh come on, I know you want to.” She basically purrs as he hears those boots circle him round and round. Oh god yes how much he wants to…Again he shakes his head, trying to make the little voice in his mind stop.

“No.” Is all he can bring out before he cries out as bones start shifting under his skin, agonizing pain when it couldn’t be controlled. Stretching muscles caused by broken bones that got mended again in an instant to modify his anatomy. He wants to get out of here, run to the little shed like he intended all along to but just can’t in a state like this; not until he is fully transformed but hell, it’ll be too late then. He wasn’t allowed to kill, not tonight and especially not five people at once. She knows this and all Preben wants to do is to rip her throat out because of it. But the room is spinning and he wants to growl, yell and curse but only cries of agony escape from his lips.

She suddenly crouches down in front of him, talking his chin between her thin fingers making him watch her. Her green eyes are so soft and he is about to drown in them as he feels his consciousness slowly slipping away. But her smile is so devilish with those perfect fangs and he can’t help but love her because of it.

“I’ll make sure you get out tomorrow morning without being seen. We’ll handle this.”  
The sound of ‘we’ gets registered somewhere in the back of his mind as his chest heaves and his shirt starts to rib on his back. Another cry, although this time it sounds more like a howl.

“W-why?” He manages to bring out between pants, his whole body going limp again. The only thing that keeps him up is her tight grip on his chin.  
“Because I know you want to…” She smiles before his vision starts to blur around the edges and claws dig into the wood of the floor.  
It’s all he can register before everything goes blank. 

 

***

 

In the morning he slowly wakes up in the shed he was supposed to wake up in, tossing and turning for a while with a yawn here and there. It takes a while before Preben decides that the hay isn’t comfortable anymore and rolls onto his back, eyes slowly adjusting to the morning light peering through the cracks in the wood. They scan the walls and strangely enough they look fine: no scratches or broken planks. Hell, even all the paint is still intact, same for most of the rubbish that is stacked in there. The man sits up straight. This makes no sense at all. Hands fly up to scratch his eyes but he then notices the dried blood smeared all over them. A cry escapes from his throat before he can suppress it. 

‘What happened last night’ is the question that races through his head as his body drops itself back into the haystack. After several minutes a groan escapes from Preben’s lips as he fails to remember what happened exactly the night before. There isn’t any memory of coming here to the shed in the first place… Had he been that far gone already? The blood on his hands seriously worries him and if Preben has to admit it’s kind of unsettling. A night in the shed means no food but somehow he got himself something anyway and that thought is making him nervous. Apparently he managed to get out and back in, which isn’t even possible. The young man scolds himself for losing control that badly. Remembering a kill is sadly enough the only thing that makes all of this a bit more humane than it presents itself. But there is nothing, only that breath-taking smell of old blood and flesh imprinted in his brain together with,…. her words. 

It makes his body jolt up again and his blood just run cold. He killed last night; people out of all things. Hands fly up to his hair, cursing and pulling at it out of pure desperation before he remembers the blood again and groans, knowing that there is dried blood in his locks right now. This wasn’t supposed to happen! He jumps out of the haystack, pacing all around the shed as he desperately tries to remember things more clearly. His hands are all over the place. They want to tug, scratch, whatever but he simply can’t leave more dried blood all over himself. Preben sits down again when he can clearly hear his own heartbeat thrumming in his ears and his breathing has become to quick to be healthy. Okay, calm down and try to focus. But every calming thought was useless against the idea that he had killed innocent people and couldn’t even remember who they were… The blond couldn’t help but bite his lower lip until he could taste the coppery flavour of blood. This…this never happened; he had never lost control that badly before.  
Preben has no idea how long he actually sat there until his eyes fell upon the bucket of water and clothes neatly folded next to it but he wishes he’d never seen it in the first place. It only makes him realize that this will haunt him until the time he can repay her for something he probably didn’t even want in the first place.

 

He made sure that there was not a single trace of blood left on his body when he closed the door of the shed. The clothes that clung to his body felt weird as if it stung him in some places. By the way they fitted his frame and the length of the pants he could only derive that it was probably something Owen used to wear even though he couldn’t picture the man in anything else than a fancy coat. And still there he was, walking towards the village square in a white button-down shirt and some brown slacks that easily resembled his own. He is relieved to find a cigarette and a lighter in the pockets as he takes a long slow drag in a weak attempt to calm himself down. The closer he gets to the stone buildings the more he hears voices, quite a lot of them and it takes all his willpower not to run towards the source to check what’s going on. The amount of people gathering around town hall when he finally arrives makes him more nervous than it should. Preben arrives just in time to hear what all the commotion is about, although he wished he had never heard it in the first place. He drops the cigarette that was between his thumb and index finger in shock. The news of how the Smith’s family has been brutally murdered last night makes him want to die on the spot instead of walking home and facing his family.


	2. Chapter 2

She always slept during long car rides. He always reasoned it was because when she was just a toddler and couldn’t stop crying, her dad would just tuck her in the back of the car and drove around the town until she was finally quiet and fast asleep. Not that Constantijn minded her being asleep of course; he wasn’t much of a talker anyway. She knew that too and could therefor fill endless highways with stories about their youth that he couldn’t even recall. Sometimes he thought it was because of her wild imagination, her way of not wanting to let silence win but most of the time he would mentally scold himself for forgetting that memory, regardless of the fact if it had truly happened or not. Now he just kept on driving, every now and then glancing to his right to check if she was still there and sleeping. The radio was playing the little cassette she had chosen hours ago but he’d taken down the volume of the song a little, afraid to wake her up. She always liked her rock music way too loud. It was still a few hours until they would arrive at Aldrose and she needed all the sleep she could get. Mathilde would scold him for it when they would finally get there; saying he had to take care of himself for once instead of shoving his health aside for hers. But wasn’t that what older brothers were supposed to do? Constantijn never actually got to the chance to defend her on the playgrounds when they were little since she had usually punched the bully in the face before he even got there. Besides, he never looked that intimidating in school anyway; too lanky, too skinny. She on the other hand always knew how to stand her ground and maybe that was the reason why he didn’t worry too much about her when doing a case. He did worry a bit though, always did. Constantijn had just learned that his little sister didn’t need the protecting and care just as much as he often thought.

His right hand dug into his pocket to retrieve the pack of cigarettes and the book of matches. The man realized it had been foolish to light one without opening a window when he heard his sister stir in the passengers seat. He should’ve known….Her coughing filled the car together with white smoke and she sleepily started rolling down the window. Constantijn sighed, ordering to stop rolling with a wave of his hand before he reached down himself, opening the one on his side instead. 

“Why don’t you just quit?” Mathilde asked, sleep still lingering in her voice as she rubbed her eye with the side of her hand. Rough hands, steady when holding a gun. Hands that had been soaked in blood way too many times for her age. Hands that had made her first wooden stake at the age of 14.  
He ignored her question, hiding the little shudder when the wind hit his face. Conversations about his addiction ended up in arguments way too often to continue them anyway. At his left the thick forest slowly started to thin out until it eventually made way for a large open graveyard.  
Mathilde yawned slowly while stretching as far as the tight space in the car allowed her to. “How long have we been driving?” 

“3 hours since you fell asleep, add the other 2 from when you were awake.” His voice was slightly muffled by the cigarette between his lips. If he had only looked at his right he could’ve seen her scrunching her nose and shaking her head slightly.

“Jesus, pull over and sleep for the love of God.” 

“Almost there.” 

A fake promise. He made sure to tilt his face to the left when blowing out the smoke.

“No we’re not…” She retorted. She’d always been too smart for her own good. It was the thing that dragged her into the business in the first place. Always asking questions and demanding explanations when he came home late or didn’t show up for a week. Her refusing to talk for days until he would explain the guns in the back of his car or the pots of blood on the shelves. “You look exhausted. Please, we’ll drive in the morning. ”   
Constantijn gave her a quick look. “I’m fine.” Before returning his eyes back to the road. 

Mathilde frowned at the stubbornness they had both inherited from their mother. It always hit her how annoying it could be when she was on the receiving end for once.  
She undid her seatbelt to climb over to the backseat. Her brother raised a quick eyebrow but decided not to question her either. That was until she shoved an energy bar under his nose.

“What is this?” He questioned without even looking at the brightly coloured wrapping paper under his nose.

“Food. You haven’t eaten in 6 hours, remember?”

“I told you, I’m fine.” He pressed on, throwing the cigarette butt out of the window and being glad to finally close it. It was horrible cold up here and he regretted not bringing thicker clothes.

In the meantime Mathilde had managed to climb back into the passengers seat with that energy bar. He was just glad that it was out of his face. From the corner of his eye Constantijn watched her unwrap it and break it in two. 

“Share?”

A sigh. “Whatever.” 

Defeated again. 

A few minutes of silence followed and Constantijn played with a single match between his fingers on the steering wheel while the other held that piece of energy bar.

 

“Sooo…” Mathilde started, breaking the silence as always. “What do you think we’re dealing with here?”

“You tell me.” Constantijn answered, keeping his eyes on the road while finally shoving the food in his mouth. It tasted as bad as it always did but he swallowed it down nonetheless.

Rustling of newspapers next to him as Mathilde searched for the article.

“Well, there isn’t much info about the circumstances. It was a family of 5, although that’s only because the locals noticed the whole family was missing. Pieces of the corpses were everywhere and the police couldn’t even identify what was whose, let alone if it was really the five of them. The local police station claimed they could handle the situation themselves without any help.“

“Sounds like they want to keep strangers out.”

“A local vampire family doesn’t leave such a mess behind.” She reasoned, eyes still scanning the paper for anything she could’ve missed. “Worst I’ve seen is a horrible looking neck wound from pure desperation and hunger, but never a corpses puzzle.” 

“By the sound of that village, the family must’ve lived there for a while, so ghosts sound unlikely.” 

“Werewolve-?”

“-wouldn’t be stupid to roam a village during full moon.” He retorted, shaking his head. 

She just hummed, tapping her chin in the process. “Date of the murder is during full moon though. Explains the mess, especially if there is a pack.” 

Constantijn shook his head again. “Coincidence. They aren’t even aware enough to recognize a door until someone flees though one. It’s impossible for them to murder a whole family in their own home.” 

His sister threw the paper back on the back seat and crossed her arms as she folded her legs on the headboard. Her chin rested on her hands as she stared at her ankles.  
“Unless the wolf was already in the house.” 

He shifted in his seat, changing hands controlling the steering wheel to look at her. “You think?”

She merely shrugged. “Could explain it, right?”

“Not the fact that the family should’ve known what’s coming…” He replied, that little match pointing at her for a second before he stuck it between his teeth.

“Recently bitten?” 

“Unlikely with a town so remote from civilisation. Plus they would’ve noticed that there was a corpse missing, right?”

“Probably not when there were pieces of daughter dear on the ceiling.” She couldn’t help but chuckle a little at her own words.  
His eyes widened before he gave her a stern and disapproving look. 

“Stop it, that’s not even funny!” This only made her laugh even harder, clutching her arms over her stomach as her shoulders kept on moving up and down.

He shook his head at the sight and couldn’t help but smile a little himself.   
“Why don’t we pull over and sleep a little? The village- “She got up again to check the newspaper on the backseat for a fraction of a second, only for her green eyes to shine with glee the moment they found what they had been looking for “-Aldrose, won’t run away. We’ll probably get a lot further when we’re actually there and can ask around a little.” She confirmed, getting comfortable again in the passengers seat.

She had a point and it made Constantijn scrunch his nose. It was only an hour away though, maybe two if he miscalculated; they could still make it. His fingers tapped the steering wheel as a small frown formed on his face. Apparently Mathilde had noticed and stopped him in the middle of his thoughts.

“C’mon, pull over….” She ordered with that smile still in place.

Constantijn looked at his little sister, a small trace of a smile on his own face before he sighed and pulled over.


	3. Chapter 3

“Evening Sugar.”

 

Charlie feels arms wrap around her waist and a chin on her shoulder as she sits at the bar, her third beer already half empty from waiting. Immediately she turns around, shows a set of fangs and hisses; a fair warning that usually makes every man with any kind of intention not come home again in the night, merely bleeding to death in an alleyway. Sadly this isn’t the usual mortal she realizes, seeing those blue eyes. She should’ve known with that overpowering smell of wet dog now finding its way to her nose.

“How cute…” he coos, sliding his tongue over his own set of canines that are a whole lot larger and imposing than hers. The first time they’d met it had been something similar. Him not being able to keep his hands to himself, her showing a set of teeth, threatening to suck him dry and he just asking if she wanted to see his as he flashed his fangs with a scrunch of his nose.

She just huffs. “Stop calling me that.” He’s got guts tonight, especially after what happened almost a month ago. She decides not to bring it up, yet. Better hold the cards in hand for later when she needs it.

“Oh, you know you love it…” He merely shrugs, hands in his pockets as he shoots her another of those half smiles; canines now gone again. She always found it cute how they were all able to keep it all in check until you pulled their strings and they became undone. Cute little puppies that reacted in ways you trained them to. It’s one of the downsides of the skinchanging they taught themselves. Arthur always thought it was funny, how you could predict when they were going to leap or how you could get them as far as transforming fully out of pure rage. He did it to get a kick out of it, show them who the superior race was. That was until Preben had attacked him for fucking around with Emil because apparently the kid hasn’t mastered the ‘art’ yet. Both still remembering the fight because of the scars and the two of them still don’t get along, even worse than how their kinds normally couldn’t stand each other. Arthur just learned not to keep on poking until they bite and Preben that he wasn’t that powerful to handle 4 vampires at once; at least when there wasn’t a full moon around.

 

He nods to the bartender who gives him a small shot glass. The smell of alcohol is sharp but it isn’t whiskey or vodka, she notes. She can’t help but glare as Preben picks up her beer, takes a swig before slowly sipping at his own. As always he just smiles and shrugs when he meets her glaring eyes.  
“Akvavit needs to be preceded by a swig of dark beer. Tradition, I swear.”

Charlie decides to ignore his behaviour, changing the subject instead. It’s worthless to start arguing anyway, it’s not what she’s here for. It would just ruin their plans. But it’s so fucking hard when your whole body is on edge because you haven’t eaten decently in days. It was the reason why she had decided on the empty pub in the first place. The last thing she wanted was the smell of a mortal when doing business and in a situation like hers.

“Didn’t think you would keep your word about showing up.” She replies, taking the half empty glass and setting herself on one of the small tables in the corner. He follows like the little puppy he smells like and seats himself on the other side. That smile is still on his face and she can’t decide if she wants to punch it off or kiss him because of it. Probably a combination of both if she relied on the history between both of them.

“This is a serious matter….” He admits, folding his hands on the wooden table after taking off that ridiculously old newsboy cap. She notices the dirt under his nails and something that smells like old blood. 3 days she estimates by its linger. They’ve been hunting in the woods to keep themselves going. The villagers don’t dare to go in there anyway. At least that doesn’t leave a mess or trail like the kills on full moon. They never bother cleaning up, or well he doesn’t at least. Always half eaten corpses in the alleys instead of clean kills. Some morning she could’ve even sworn that he still had blood on his face. She just hopes he knew better.

“Besides, when have I ever let you down in the first place?”

She merely snorts at the statement, lips at the rim of the glass. Looking him dead in the eye before throwing her head back to drain her glass in one go. She’s hungry, so terribly hungry and her third Guinness can’t drown the agonizing feeling. It tears at your walls, make you go feral. It’s horrible to lose control, makes you believe that you’re a monster that isn’t capable of handling itself. They cannot afford to slip and bite a human in an alleyway late at night, drunk and high from famine; not anymore. When the glass hits the table she hears the little chuckle and meets raised eyebrows.

“Well, you don’t seem to be doing well…”

“As if it surprises you. Just wait until you can’t control yourselves anymore. Dead within hours because of those hunters.” She bites back, her hand trying to wave it all away as she slumps back into that wooden chair.

She can’t deny that their way of coping right now is smart. Shifting at night and just hunting small game in the forest as if they’re ‘normal’. But the forest isn’t enough to keep a family of five well fed when full moon is near, oh not at all. They need human blood, just like her family does. Good fresh meat to chew on. Don’t even mind if it’s their kill or not. It wouldn’t be the first time they had set their teeth in the corps of a vampire kill, blood too dead for them to digest. Sick. Then again, that’s the reason why they tolerate those dogs in the first place. They wipe away every trace of a vampire kill and push all the blame to themselves. But her family isn’t killing anymore so they have to do their own dirty work and just like them they prefer not to. Too dangerous. During the month they can eat whatever they want though, an advantage to be jealous of.

“And that’s your problem how?” Preben asks, tapping his calloused fingers on the wood of the table. His chair on two legs, with those ridiculously long legs keeping him balanced. He’s too calm, too careless.

She merely bites her lips, a small feeling gnawing deep inside of her that she recognizes as fear. Fear that he’s gonna refuse and that this deal won’t go off the way her brothers had said it would. She’s aware of how they had kept little Emil in the old shed up the hill when he first transformed to leave no marks to the village. They know what they’re doing. She just hopes they’re as desperate as her family is now that full moon is approaching.

“Look we all know the five of you are just waiting to snap a neck but can’t because some hunters decided that this place was nice to clean out. We know you have nowhere to hide as soon as you don’t think straight anymore because of that white little disk in the sky…They will search the woods, hear the noise in the shed. You’re not safe anymore and all of you know it.” She states, obviously getting agitated by her own thoughts even though she tries to keep it as simple and business-like as possible. Later she would smack herself for it, now she must keep up the show.

“And…”

“And we offer you our help.”

He nearly chokes on his drink, prefers to spit it all out to his left. He’s laughing, laughing so loud that he forgets to wipe the remains of his drink and his poisonous drool off of his face and to make the bartender watch him. She’s so glad that there aren’t other people around. One day she swears to put a collar on that neck and teach him some manners for once.

When he’s finally settles down, although still giggles between breaths he looks at her again almost hunched over the table. “Please do tell me Sugar, what is it that you need? Because honestly, you bloodsuckers helping us? Good one.”

She merely smiles and folds her fingers together. “I helped you last month without asking anything in return, didn’t I? One ravishing night to get you through the next few months. I mean, you’re still fine, no growing urge to kill a poor innocent mortal now am I right?”

His cocky grin fades and to her it’s the biggest accomplishment. Preben just stares at her for a few seconds until his blue eyes start drifting; not wanting to look her in the eye anymore. “That was different.”

“In what way?”

“I didn’t want to….”

“But you did, and got out without a problem thanks to Arthur.”

And at that moment his eyes snap back, looking her dead in the eye. It had been stupid not to see this coming.

“Without a problem? The fact that you’re lousy little brother couldn’t keep this within the city is the reason why we’re in this bullshit in the first place!” He’s standing up straight now and his glare almost makes her want to shrink down in her seat, almost.

But at the same time she knows he’s right. This wasn’t supposed to happen, they didn’t think it would get out of hand like this. Cleaning corpses from the walls had never been their original plan, if it had been they would’ve been very well aware of the fact that this couldn’t be covered up like everything else they had dealt with before. Police could be dealt with, killing off a big guy here and there but hunters were a totally different case. After all, covering up murders was the main reason why Arthur was part of the police in the first place but they were still vampires. Something a hunter was trained to kill.

She sinks further into her chair, cursing the fact that she’s wearing a dress for the lack of pockets to stuff her hands in. So instead she doesn’t show any sign of backing off in this little game of his. “We can handle the police outside of this town, like we always do. You dogs have no idea how much we do to keep it all covered up.”

“Well, you all screwed up this time. Do a better fucking job the next time you decide to offer me a treat.” Preben spits and with that he picks up his cap, pulls it over ears that had become slightly pointy out of anger and gives Charlie one last look.

“We will manage ourselves just fine, thank you.” The tone is warmer again, as if nothing happened. That cheerfulness that always lingers around him, even when he’s covered in dirt from the mines or after a fight. Charlie often can’t help but envy that characteristic but not now. He throws some money on the bar before he shuts the oak door with a loud bang.

All Charlie can think about is how she failed. She’s the only one who can wind him around her finger and she fucking failed. The thought of going back home doesn’t please her as much as it usually does and she wonders how she’s gonna explain all this.


End file.
